Famed World War II aviators hold final reunion

Doolittle Raider Lt. Col. Dick Cole, stands in front of a B-25 at the Destin Airport in Destin, Fla. on Tuesday April 16, 2013 before a flight as part of the Doolittle Raider 71st Anniversary Reunion. Cole was Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot during the raid. The Doolittle Tokyo Raid was a notable attack on the Japanese during World War II using B-25's. The B-25 pilots trained to take off from an aircraft carrier, which the plane was not designed to do. (AP Photo/Northwest Florida Daily News
— AP

Doolittle Raider Lt. Col. Dick Cole, stands in front of a B-25 at the Destin Airport in Destin, Fla. on Tuesday April 16, 2013 before a flight as part of the Doolittle Raider 71st Anniversary Reunion. Cole was Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot during the raid. The Doolittle Tokyo Raid was a notable attack on the Japanese during World War II using B-25's. The B-25 pilots trained to take off from an aircraft carrier, which the plane was not designed to do. (AP Photo/Northwest Florida Daily News
/ AP

At each reunion is a case containing 80 silver goblets with the name of each raider inscribed right-side up and upside down on a single goblet. The men toast their fallen comrades each year and turn their goblets upside down in their honor.

They have also saved a bottle of Hennessy cognac from 1896, the year mission commander James Doolittle was born. The Raiders had said the final two survivors would open the bottle, but they have since decided that the four survivors will meet in private later this year for the toast.

At Wednesday's dedication of the Saylor Hangar, the three men posed for pictures beneath a vintage B-25 bomber and an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that sat beside it.

Col. Andrew Toth, commander of the F-35 squadron at Eglin, told the men, "You boosted the morale of this nation just four months after Pearl Harbor. Thank you for your dedication and service."

Young airmen and women obtained the old veterans' autographs and thanked them for their service.

"I've seen the movies - you know, `Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,'" said Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Matesick. "I think this is awesome because they actually trained here at Eglin and they did the ceremony to actually name a hangar after one of the guys. It's pretty cool."

Larry Kelley owns the vintage B-25 aircraft that Cole flew a day earlier during a demonstration of four restored B-25s from the World War II era.

Kelley choked up when trying to explain what it has meant to him to meet Cole and the other raiders over the past several years and to have the men fly in his aircraft.

"Here are some of the most famous aviators that came out of World War II and they've never put a nickel in their pocket" as a result of their fame, he said. Instead, he said, any money from book signings and appearances has always gone to the James H. Doolittle Scholarship Fund for aviation students.

Kelley said sitting beside Cole while Cole took the controls of the B-25 and landed the aircraft was a highlight of his life as a World War II and aviation buff.

"Oh yeah, he did most of the flying today. He did the landing. He's dead on. I kept looking over the altimeter. I told him to hold 1,500 feet and I kept looking at the altimeter and it was dead on: not 1,499 feet, not 1,501 feet. He had the altimeter pegged at 1,500 feet," he said.